A Resource to Help Understand Health-Care Reform

With the final outcome of health-care reform being signed into law by President Obama a few months ago, many believe the deed is done. But many others, like me, think the journey for more accessible health care for Americans has just begun. Either way, most of us are still trying to understand just what has been gained through reform that did make it into law. As breast cancer patients and survivors, we especially know how important it is to understand our health care and what is available to us and our families.

I have been perusing several resources to clarify the changes to health care and the benefits to the American people. The ones that have helped me the most are the April 5, 2010 issue of Time, the May 2010 issue of Money, and a new book written by the staff of the Washington Post: Landmark: The Inside Story of America’s New Health Care Law and What It Means for Us All. This book is by far the best resource I have read to date. The table of contents reads like a Frequently Asked Questions list, and it covers every question you could possibly think of related to the new health-care reform.

I was really interested in the first four chapters, which provided insight into the politics of health care. As a relative newcomer to the United States and even as a political science major, I found American politics a little confusing. Watching the process that brought us health-care reform was a first-class education for me; I got to watch it in action with all its checks, balances, and counterbalances. Reading in the book about what was taking place behind the scenes was like icing on the cake!

The book addresses all of the changes that came with reform to health insurance coverage and shows how they will be applied. It can be used as a reference manual to health care through the coming years. Since many of the provisions will not be enforced until 2014, there is still a huge gap in who and what is covered. Most people don’t even know the immediate implementations and how they will help their family. One thing I didn’t know before reading the book is that after 2014, chiropractors and other alternative providers will have to be covered by your insurance as their licenses permit. For cancer patients, this is especially good news since many of us seek complementary medicine to help us deal with the effects of first-line treatment.

I think I will be returning to these resources time and again to clarify what exactly reform means to me and my family. As happy as I was to receive a copy of Landmark (signed by Ceci Connolly, national health policy correspondent for the Washington Post and lead author),

I am astounded that we need a book to understand health care in this country. The truth is that we do need a book. In Canada, I just needed a card.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kathy-Ellen Kups, RN

Kathy-Ellen is a Registered Nurse living in Michigan. In 2003, Kathy-Ellen was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer. She was cancer-free from April 2004 until December of 2013 when it was discovered that...read more